John Plagis
John Plagis | |
---|---|
Birth name | Ioannis Agorastos Plagis |
Born | Gadzema, Southern Rhodesia | 10 March 1919
Died | 1974 (aged 54–55) Rhodesia |
Allegiance | |
Service/ | Wing Commander |
Service number | 80227[1] |
Unit |
|
Commands held |
|
Battles/wars | Second World War |
Awards |
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Other work | Businessman; electoral candidate for the Rhodesian Front in 1962; director of Central African Airways |
Ioannis Agorastos "John" Plagis,[n 1] DSO, DFC & Bar (1919–1974) was a Southern Rhodesian flying ace in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War, noted especially for his part in the defence of Malta during 1942. The son of Greek immigrants, he was accepted by recruiters only after Greece joined the Allies in late 1940. Following spells with No. 65 Squadron and No. 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron, he joined No. 249 (Gold Coast) Squadron in Malta in March 1942. Flying Spitfire Mk Vs, Plagis was part of the multinational group of Allied pilots that successfully defended the strategically important island against numerically superior Axis forces over the next few months. Flying with No. 185 Squadron from early June, he was withdrawn to England in early July 1942.
After a spell as an instructor in the UK, Plagis returned to action in September 1943 as commander of
Plagis was the top-scoring Southern Rhodesian ace of the war, and the highest-scoring ace of Greek origin, with 16 confirmed aerial victories, including 11 over Malta. Awarded the
Early life
John Plagis was born on 10 March 1919 in Gadzema,[2][3] a mining village near Hartley, about 110 kilometres (68 mi) south-west of the Southern Rhodesian capital Salisbury. His parents, Agorastos and Helen Plagis, were Greek immigrants from the island of Lemnos;[4] he had five siblings.[5] Christened with the Greek name Ioannis Agorastos, Plagis used the English form of Ioannis, John, from childhood, and attended Prince Edward School in Salisbury.[3]
Having been interested in aviation since he was a boy,
Though he was officially in the RAF as a Greek (he became a Rhodesian citizen only after the war), Plagis considered himself a Rhodesian flyer and wore shoulder flashes on his uniform denoting him as such.[8] He named each aircraft he piloted during the war after his sister Kay,[2] and painted that name on the side of each cockpit.[9] After briefly flying Spitfires with No. 65 Squadron RAF, Plagis joined No. 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron, an almost all-Rhodesian Spitfire unit, on 19 July 1941.[10] He served in the UK for about half a year, during which he was commissioned as a pilot officer, before being posted to the Mediterranean theatre in January 1942.[7]
Air war in Europe and the Mediterranean
First tour of operations
Plagis's first major operation was Operation Spotter, the first of many British
The operation, carried out on 7 March 1942, was largely successful and 15 of the 16 Spitfires reached Malta.[n 2] Plagis and Leggo arrived to find a third Rhodesian, Flight Officer George "Buck" Buchanan, already attached to the squadron.[13] A further delivery of 16 Spitfires, Operation Picket I, was attempted on 21 March, but this was less successful; only nine of the planes arrived.[12] Thirteen Spitfire reinforcement operations were ultimately launched between March and October 1942, playing a key role in the siege.[14] The Luftwaffe and the Italian Regia Aeronautica meanwhile attempted to bomb Malta into submission, turning the airfields into "a wilderness of craters, the docks ... a shambles, Valletta a mass of broken limestone ..."[15]
The Luftwaffe launched a major attack against key Maltese airfields at dawn on 20 March. Leggo, who had not slept for over 24 hours, returned to the airfield in the early hours having spent the night with a girlfriend. As the German planes approached he was ordered to prepare to fly. Plagis attempted to stop his friend from going, but Leggo insisted on flying, and took off at 08:05 as part of a group of four Spitfires and 12 Hurricanes aiming to intercept a squadron of Messerschmitt Bf 109s. He was soon seen to be flying poorly. A German pilot noticed this and attacked Leggo from close range, seriously damaging his aircraft and forcing him to bail out. Another Bf 109 then swooped and either fired at Leggo or collapsed his parachute with its slipstream, causing him to fall to his death. When Plagis learned what had happened, he was inconsolable, holding himself responsible.[13] In his journal, he vowed to "shoot down ten for Doug—I will too, if it takes me a lifetime".[16]
Plagis shot down his first enemy aircraft on 25 March 1942, and on 1 April achieved four more aerial victories in a single afternoon, thereby becoming the siege of Malta's first Spitfire ace.[7] His downing of four enemies in a few hours won him much praise from superiors and reporters, and contributed to his growing reputation as an aggressive but skilful combat pilot.[2] He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on 1 May 1942, the citation noting that he had "destroyed 4 and probably destroyed a further 3 hostile aircraft". "With complete indifference to odds against him, he presses home his attacks with skill and courage," it continued—"He has set an outstanding example."[17]
On 11 May, Plagis attempted to down an Italian
Plagis was
On arriving in England, Plagis was found to be suffering from malnutrition, scabies and physical and mental fatigue. He briefly convalesced in a nursing home,[24] then spent a year as an instructor in England.[7] He was promoted to probationary flying officer on 1 October 1942.[25]
Second tour of operations
Plagis returned to action in September 1943, when he was appointed commanding officer of No. 64 Squadron, then flying Spitfire Mk VCs over northern France from RAF Coltishall in Norfolk. Plagis downed a Bf 109 over France on 24 September 1943, then a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 on 23 November,[6] and formally received the rank of flight lieutenant on 8 December 1943.[26]
At the start of June 1944, Plagis assumed command of
After leading No. 126 Squadron on raids into Normandy during the Allied invasion, Plagis took part in many of the attacks on German positions in northern France and the
Plagis converted to
Plagis finished the war with a tally of 16 enemy aircraft confirmed destroyed (including two shared victories counted as half a kill each), two shared probably destroyed, six damaged and one shared damaged.[27] This made him Southern Rhodesia's highest-scoring ace of the war,[32] as well as the top-scoring ace of Greek origin.[33] He was one of the most-decorated Southern Rhodesian servicemen of the war.[34]
Post-war service and later life
Plagis stayed with the RAF following the end of hostilities, and from September 1946 to December 1947 commanded No. 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron in England and Germany, flying
Plagis set up and ran a
In later life, Plagis became a friend of British ace
Plagis died in 1974, aged 54 or 55;[44] according to Lauren St John, an author from Gadzema, he had taken his own life, having never truly readjusted to the civilian world.[5]
Notes and references
Footnotes
References
- ^ Salt 2001, p. 263.
- ^ a b c Government of Southern Rhodesia 1945, pp. 38–42.
- ^ a b c d Who's Who of Southern Africa 1973, p. 1230.
- ^ a b Charousis 2010, p. 115.
- ^ a b c d St John 2008, p. 145.
- ^ a b c Shores & Williams 1966, p. 247.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Nichols 2008, p. 92.
- ^ Nichols 2008, p. 20.
- ^ Price 2004, p. 41.
- ^ Salt 2001, p. 93.
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1991, p. 109.
- ^ a b Nichols 2008, p. 15.
- ^ a b Nichols 2008, pp. 19–20.
- ^ Nichols 2008, p. 50.
- ^ O'Hara 2012, p. 54.
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1991, p. 130.
- ^ "No. 35542". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 May 1942. pp. 1903–1904.
- ^ Nichols 2008, p. 35.
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1991, p. 260.
- ^ Nichols 2008, p. 90.
- ^ O'Hara 2012, p. 57.
- ^ "No. 35621". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 July 1942. pp. 2979–2980.
- ^ Latimer 2002, p. 87.
- ^ Nichols 2008, p. 52.
- ^ "No. 35819". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 December 1942. pp. 5395–5396.
- ^ "No. 36280". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 December 1943. pp. 5383–5384.
- ^ a b Price 2004, p. 52.
- ^ a b "No. 36777". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 November 1944. pp. 5034–5035.
- ^ Shores, Cull & Malizia 1991, p. 657.
- ^ "No. 37074". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 May 1945. pp. 2483–2484.
- ^ a b King 1947.
- ^ Shores & Williams 1966, p. 73.
- ^ Charousis 2010, p. 117.
- ^ MacDonald 1976, Appendix, p. i.
- ^ Thomas 1993.
- ^ "No. 37758". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 October 1946. pp. 5079–5080.
- ^ a b Parker 1972, p. 104.
- ^ Willson 1963, p. 202.
- ^ ZANU 1969, p. 29.
- ^ Francis 2008, p. 193.
- ^ Lucas 1981, p. 262.
- ^ Sunday Mail 1966.
- ^ Bulawayo Chronicle 1966.
- ^ Charousis 2010, p. 118.
Newspaper and journal articles
- Charousis, Chariton (December 2010). Έλληνες Άσσοι σε Συμμαχικές Αεροπορίες κατά το Β΄ Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο [Greek Aces in Allied Air Forces in World War II] (PDF). Aviation Review (in Greek). Athens: Hellenic Air Force: 114–127. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
- King, H F (5 June 1947). "Five Days With B.A.F.O." Flight. London: 513–517. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
- Thomas, Andrew (1 November 1993). "No. 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron, Royal Air Force". Scale Aircraft Modelling. 16 (1). Bletchley: Hall Park: 35–41.
- "U.S. Financier is Refused Residence Permit—Told to Leave by Next Monday" (PDF). The Chronicle. Bulawayo: Argus Group: 1. 14 July 1966. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
- "Millionaire in Bumi Hills Hotel Deal" (PDF). The Sunday Mail. Salisbury: Argus Group. 22 May 1966. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
Bibliography
- Francis, Martin (November 2008). The Flyer: British Culture and the Royal Air Force 1939–1945 (First ed.). Oxford: ISBN 978-0-19-927748-3.
- ISBN 978-0-674-01016-1.
- ISBN 978-0-09-146470-7.
- MacDonald, J F (1976) [1950]. The War History of Southern Rhodesia 1939–1945. Volume 2. Bulawayo: Books of Rhodesia. ISBN 978-0-86920-140-4.
- Nichols, Steve (September 2008). Malta Spitfire Aces. Osprey Aircraft of the Aces. Vol. 83 (First ed.). Oxford: ISBN 978-1-84603-305-6.
- O'Hara, Vincent P (November 2012). In Passage Perilous: Malta and the Convoy Battles of June 1942. Twentieth-Century Battles (First ed.). Bloomington, Indiana: ISBN 978-0-253-00603-5.
- Parker, John (1972). Rhodesia: Little White Island. London: Pitman. ISBN 978-0-273-36167-1.
- Price, Alfred (2004) [1995]. Late Mark Spitfire Aces, 1942–45. Osprey Aircraft of the Aces. Vol. 5 (Fifth ed.). Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85532-575-3.
- Salt, Beryl (March 2001). A Pride of Eagles: The Definitive History of the Rhodesian Air Force, 1920–1980. Weltevredenpark, South Africa: Covos Day Books. ISBN 978-0-620-23759-8.
- Shores, Christopher F; Cull, Brian; Malizia, Nicola (1991). Malta: the Spitfire Year, 1942. London: Grub Street Publishing. ISBN 978-0-948817-16-8.
- Shores, Christopher F; Williams, Clive (1966). Aces High: the Fighter Aces of the British and Commonwealth Air Forces in World War II. London: Neville Spearman Publishing. OCLC 654945475.
- St John, Lauren (July 2008) [2007]. Rainbow's End: A Memoir of Childhood, War and an African Farm (Second ed.). New York: ISBN 978-0-7432-8680-0.
- Willson, F M G, ed. (1963). Source Book of Parliamentary Elections and Referenda in Southern Rhodesia, 1898–1962. Salisbury: Department of Government, OCLC 2885579.
- Southern Rhodesia: Past and Present. Salisbury: Government of Southern Rhodesia. 1945. OCLC 5062140.
- Who's Who of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Ken Donaldson. 1973. OCLC 1769850.
- Zimbabwe News. Volume 4, Issues 1–16. Lusaka: OCLC 3249703.